Selector mechanism for addressing machines



Se t; 23, 1924. mwom R. C. ANDERSON ET AL SELECTOR MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed Jan. 17 1924 3- Sheets-Sheet l M A I M F W \1 mumi @oooob 1 & Z6

M4. W Z/ wawz Sept. 23 1924.

R. C. ANDERSON ET AL SELECTOR MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed Jan. 17 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 w llil r ept. 23 n 1924- 11,509,091

R. C. ANDERSON ET AL SELECTOR MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed Jan. 1'7 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 9.... mmw s I U Patented Sept. 23, 1924.

RAY C. ANDERSON AND PAUL A. GOLLNICK, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; ASSIGNO'RS 'IO SPIEGEL MAY STERN COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLI- NOIS.

SELECTOR MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES.

Application filed January 17, 1924. Serial No. 686,767.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, RAY C. ANDERSON and PAUL A. GoLLNIoK, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicagoyin the county This invention relates to selector mechanism for addressing machines adapted to make impressions from stencils or the like, the stencils being brought to a printing position beneath a platen, the operation of which is controlled by the selector mechanism.

The object of our invention is broadly to provide an improved construction for selector mechanism of the character described.

As our invention is best understood from a description of an embodiment thereof, we will proceed at once to describe the pre ferred embodiment of our invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan View of an addressing machine embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the addressing machine illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig 1.

ig. 4 is a rear elevation of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig.

Fig. 6 is a diagram of an electrical circuit which forms a part of the .mechanism embodying our invention, and

Fig. 7 1s a front elevation of a stencil of the t pe preferably employed in connection wit our improved selector mechanism. The addressing machine illustrated in the accompanyin drawings is of the type usually provided with a hopper from which stencils are fed to a printing position beneath an inked platen, the platen being operated b suitable actuating mechanism which sync ronizes the feedingand printing operations. However, we have only shown as much of the machine as is necessa to'illustrate our invention together with a p urality of stencils 10 which ma be said to form a part of the machine. s-shown in Fig. 7, each stencil 10 preferably comprises a relatively thin membrane 11 in which suitable characters are cut, the memlpgane 11 being carried in a cardboard frame Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the reference character 13 designates the frame of the addressing machine, the frame being adapted to support a Work-table 14. A platen roller 15 is formed upon a shaft 16 which is rotatably j ournaled in a plurality of platen arms 17 pivotally mounted in the frame 13 by a pin 18. Formed integral with the platen arms 17 is an extension 19 connected by a link 20 to a lever 21 pivotall mounted upon the frame 13 by a pm 22. he platen 15 is supplied with ink from an ink reservoir 25 by means of a plurality of rollers 26, 27, 28, the rollers being driven by any suitable mechanism. The ink reservoir 25 is supported by a plurality of brackets 30 which are also adapted to rotatably journal the rollers 26, 27, and 28. A pair of guides 31 are disposed below the platen 15 and arallel to the axis of rotation thereof. uitable means (not shown) is provided for feeding the stencils 10 along the guides 31 to the printingposition beneath the platen 15, the

-means giving a step by step movement to the stencils. It is apparent that if an envelope or the like is placed beneath the guides 31, as indicated by dotted lines at 32, the platen 15 may be employed to make an impression upon the envelope of any information carried by a stencil in printing position.

Our invention has to do with selector mechanism for controlling the operation of the platen 15. It is deslrable at times to make impressions of particular stencils and the selector mechanism is employed to se lect the stencils as they pass from the hopper to the printing' position, together with other stencils of which the impressions are not to be taken.

Our improved selector mechanism comprises an arm 33 rigidly secured to a shaft 34, the shaft being rotatably journaled in a plurality of bearings 35 projecting upwardly from the work-table 14. As best shown in Fig. 3, the free end of the arm 33 is bifurcated, one of the bifurcations having rigidly secured to it a plate 36, and the other of the bifurcations having rigidly secured to it a plate 37. The plates are firmly held in spaced relation b means of a plurality of posts 38 arrange at the corners of the plates. A plurality of apertures 40 in the plate 36 are aligned with apertures 41 in the plate 37 so that the plates provide spaced bearings for a pin42 slidably journaled in two of the aligned apertures. It will be understood that the pin 42 may occupy any pair of aligned apertures 40 and 41. A tension spring 43 has one of its ends secured to a projection 44 at the upper end of the pin 42 and'the other of its ends secured to a screw 45 threaded into the plate 36. The spring 43normally holds the pin 42 in an extended osition with respect to the plates 36 and 37 so that the reduced end 46 of the pin is positioned slightly above the path traversed by the stencils on their way to the printing position. Certain of the stencils are provided with apertures 47 so positioned that when the stencil lies in a position adjacent the printing position, the apertures 47 will register with the pin 42. If the pin 42 is then angularly displaced about the axis of the shaft 34 in. a clock-wise direction Fig. 3),, the reduced end v0f .the pin46 wil pass through the aperture 47 in the stencil and contact the forward guide 31. This action is'utilized to close an electrical circuit which controls mechanism connecting the platen 15 with the actuating mechanism of the addressing machine. The several elements of the machine are so timed that the platen will take an impression of the selected stencil when it reaches the printing position. The circuit, as shown in Fig. 6, includes a storage battery 50 or any other suitable source of electrical energy. One terminal of the battery 50 is connected by means of a conductor 51 to the windings of the magnet .52 which is provided with an armature 53, the armature being formed integral with or rigidly secured to a lever 54 pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on a pin 55' projecting rearwardly of the work-table 14. The other terminal of the battery 50 is connected by a conductor. 56 to the forward uide 31. Another conductor 57 connects t ewindings of the magnet 52 with the pin 42, the connection being made in any suitable manner as, for instance, by soldering one end of the conductor 57 to the metallic plate 37. It is apparent that when the pin 42 engages or contacts the forward guide 31, the circuit will be closed and the magnet 52 will attract its armature 5.3, thus causing the other end of the lever 54 to move upwardly and to raise .a latch 58 which is pivotally mounted upon a shaft 59, the shaft 59 being rotatably ournaled in a plurality of bearings 60 projecting upwardly from the worktable 14.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the latch 58 normallyuholds a pivotally mounted cam lever 61 in a position wherein 'a cam 62 formed integral withthe'lever will prevent a tension spring 63 from bringing a latch i :64 into engagement with a segment 65, the

os cillate the shaft 59, the lever 68 being rigidly secured to the shaft 59 and being provided, at itsfree end, with an anti-friction roller 69 adapted to ride in a cam track 70 cut into the segment 65. It will be noted that the cam track 7 0 gives a positive movement to the lever 68 and that each oscillation of the segment 65 will be accompanied by a like oscillation of the shaft 59. The shaft 59 has rigidly secured to it a lever 71 connected by a link 72 to a lever 73 which, together with a lever 74, is rigidly secured to the shaft 34. Therefore, each oscillation of the shaft 59 will be accompanied by a similar oscillation of the. shaft 34. The lever 74 is secured to'one end of a tension spring 75 which has its other end secured to the work-table 14 by means of a screw eye. The spring75 compensates for lost motion and wear in the several parts operatively connecting the segment 65 with the shaft 34 and thus prevents undue vibration.

As hereinbefore set forth, a latch 58 normally holds the cam lever 61 in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2. However, when the circuit, shown in Fig. 6 is closed, the lever 54 will raise the latch 58 and permit the cam lever to swing into the position shown in dotted lines (Fig. 2), the cam lever being forced into this position by the tension spring 63 which draws the latch 64 into a position wherein a lug 77 formed integral 1 with the latch 64 rests in a notch 78 formed in the segment 65, When this condition obtains, the segment 65 will carry the lever 21 along with it as it oscillates and the oscillations of the lever will be accompanied by like oscillations of the platen arms 17, the platen arms being connected to the lever 21 by means of the link 20. On the downward stroke of the segment 65 the lever 54 will leave the latch 58 as the circuit will be opened when the pin 42 leaves the forward guide 31. A tension spring 79 having one of its ends secured to the cam lever 61 and the other of its ends secured to the work-table 14 will bring the cam lever61 into the position shown in full lines (Fig. 2) and the lever will be engaged again by the latch 58. Continued downward movement of the segment 65 will cause a roller 80 rotatab journaled in the free endof the latch 64 to travel along thecam 62, the cam being designed to cause the latch 64 to leave the segment 65. i

From this description it is readil understood that as each' stencil is moved 1n a step 1301 the latch 64 will enter the notch 78 in the segment 65. Then, when the stencil has passed into the printing position, the platen will descend and make an impression there of. If it should happen that the stencil is not so apertured it will pass through the printing position and be discharged into a vsuitable hopper, no impression being made thereof.

Our selector mechanism is an improvement over mechanisms of this type now in existence in that the use of twoplates 36 and 37 prevents wobbling of the pins. A relatively large number of aligned apertures 40 and 41 may be made in the plates. If one of the plates 36 and 37 were omitted, the pins would Wobble and the number of classifications or selections would be limited. In practice we have found that the pins 42 are so rigidly held in their proper positions that the perforations in the stencils can run into each other without any danger of duplication in our selection.

Another important improvement that we provide is a cam which positively forces the selector late down to make electric contact with su cient force to force the selector pin through any ordinary accumulation of ink, lint, or carbon on the pin or runway contact point, regardless of the number of selector pins in the plate. This construction insures a contact and a consequent selection whenever the perforation is in proper position to enable the pin to drop through to make the contact.

We claim:

ll'In an addressing machine, selector mechanism comprising a pivotally mounted selector arm, a plate rigidly secured to the arm, a second plate spaced from the first mentioned plate and rigidly secured to the arm, a pin slidably journaled in the plates, and a spring for holding the pin in an extended position with respect to the plates.

2. In an addressing machine, a selector mechanism comprising a pivotally mounted selector arm, a plate rigidly secured to the selector arm, a second plate spaced from the first mentioned plate and rigidly secured to the selector arm, the second plate having a plurality of apertures aligned with similar apertures in the first plate, a pin slidably journaled in aligned apertures of the'plates, and a spring for holding the pin in an extended position with respect to the plates.

3. In an addressing machine, a plurality of stencils adapted to be brought, one by one, to a printing position, a platen, actuating mechanism, means for operatively connecting the actuating mechanism to the platen, and means for controlling the connecting meansand comprising a pivotally mounted arm having spaced bearings, a pin slidably journaled in the bearings, and a spring for holding the pin in an extended position with respect to the arm, the actuating means being adapted to displace the arm to bring the pin into engagement with each stencil being brought to the printing position.

4. In an addressing machine, a plurality of stencils adapted to be brought, one by one, to a printing position, a platen, means for controlling the platen and comprising a pivotally mounted arm, a pin slidably 'ournaled in the arm, a spring for holding t e pin in an extended position with respect to the arm, and a cam for positively displacing the arm to bring the pin into engagement with each stencil being brought to the printing position.

RAY C. ANDERSQN. PAUL A. GOLLNIC-K. 

